This is a mirror site located on
Tripod. Some of the forms you find here will not function on the tripod
server. Please visit our main site at http://www.listen-up.org/

<Your address>

<Your City, State Zip>

<Your area code/phone number>

<Your e-mail address>

<Date>

Mr/s. <name>, Director

Office of Special Education Services

<Your State>Department of Education

<Address>

<City, State Zip>

Dear Mr/s. <Name>:

This letter is a formal complaint against the <Name of District>
Schools, on behalf of our son, Roger Smart . Roger is a 14 year old hard of
hearing student in the eighth grade. He attends <Name> School and also
receives special education programs and services through the <Name>
Program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. We allege that <Name of
District> Schools violated the requirements of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act and the <State> Administrative Rules for
Special Education.

Allegation #1: Failure to provide related services

Roger 's IEP, (attached) requires that he receive speech therapy twice per
week, 30 minutes per session, and PT once per week, 45 minutes per session.
Since January 15, 2000 no speech therapy has been provided to him at all, and he
has only had two session of PT, each for 25 minutes. Those sessions occurred on
January 26 and February 7, 2000. The IEP clearly states that Roger is to receive
services from August 28, 1999 through June 12, 2000. The principal of
<Name>Junior High School, <Name>, informed us that speech services
are not available while the speech therapist is on maternity leave. (See
attached letter of confirmation, dated January 30, 2000.) Roger's homeroom
teacher, <Name> stated that she will only allow Roger to go to PT if she
feels that Roger has been particularly clumsy during the week (See attached
letter of confirmation, dated February 12, 2000.) We do not believe that this
meets the requirements of Roger's IEP, and thus violates both the IDEA and the
<State> Administrative Rules for Special Education. We request that you
direct <Name of District> Schools to immediately begin providing Roger
with all the therapy services to which he is entitled, as per his IEP.
Additionally, pursuant to §300.660(b)(1) of the implementing regulations
pursuant to IDEA, we request that you direct the district to initiate the
provision of additional hours Speech Therapy and PT to Roger. In order to
compensate for the missed services, this additional therapy should be equivalent
to the number of hours of therapy services the district failed to provide to
Roger, to which he was entitled. We further request that the schedule for the
provision of these compensatory services be approved by us before taking effect.

Allegation #2: Failure to provide supplementary aids

Roger's IEP requires the provision of an FM unit at all times that Roger is
on school property. Roger is mainstreamed for all academic classes, except
English. Beginning with the second semester of this academic year, his math
teacher has been Mr. <Name>, who refuses to wear the FM microphone. As a
result, Roger is unable to understand what he is saying, and is falling behind
in math. He failed the first two quizzes of this semester. Roger has always done
well in math and claims that he failed the quiz because Mr. <Name> will
not wear the FM microphone. Roger is therefore is unable to benefit from any
instruction given to the rest of the class. We request that you direct Mr.
<Name> to wear the FM microphone at all times when Roger is in his class.
We further request, pursuant to §300.660(b)(1) of the implementing regulations
pursuant to IDEA, that you direct the <Name of District> Schools to either
provide Roger with after-school tutoring, or to reimburse us for the cost of a
private tutor, to compensate for the instruction Roger missed while Mr.
<Name> was not wearing the FM microphone. We also ask that you direct Mr.
<Name> to allow Roger to take the first two quizzes over again, after he
has completed the tutoring.

We request that you investigate the substance of our complaints, and direct
<Name of District> Schools to provide compensatory education and services,
pursuant to §300.660(b)(1) of the implementing regulations pursuant to IDEA, as
suggested above, if these allegations are found valid. Please respond to us in
writing.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need additional information.
Thank you for your time and attention to these matters.

Very truly yours,

Mary Smart

George Smart

Attachments

*** Please note that this article is the
intellectual property of Celeste Johnson. Its presence on this web page is
with permission and does not place it in the public domain. Celeste
Johnson retains all rights to this letter. Feel free to use the
information but please do not redistribute it or include it in any published
material without first obtaining her permission.

The "Listen Up!" and "Talk It Up!"
programs are copyright protected. All rights including the use of the "Listen
Up!" and "Talk It Up!" logos are reserved. For more information about
"Listen Up! and Talk It Up!" feel free to contact
the author.